Among the most extraordinary single property in the Coachella Valley — the Annenberg Estate in Rancho Mirage, designed by A. Quincy Jones in 1966, which served as the private retreat for ambassadors, presidents, and international heads of state (Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, every US president from Nixon through Obama) and is now open to the public as a cultural center with a strikingly beautiful desert gardens in California.
Why It’s Worth Your Time
Sunnylands was built in 1966 for Walter and Leonore Annenberg — the media magnate and philanthropist who served as US Ambassador to the United Kingdom under Nixon — as a winter retreat and entertainment venue that quickly became known as the 'Western White House.' Every US president from Nixon through Obama visited; Frank Sinatra was a regular guest; international heads of state were hosted here for informal diplomatic summits. The house itself (closed to public tours) was designed by A. Quincy Jones in his characteristic mid-century California style — a single-story horizontal structure with seamless indoor-outdoor flow, extensive use of glass, and a golf course as the eastern garden. The 200-acre property was donated to a nonprofit in 2010 and opened as a public cultural center in 2012. The Center building (by Frederick Fisher Partners, 2012) hosts exhibitions on the estate's history and the Annenberg Collection (works by Renoir, van Gogh, and Picasso from the family's collection). The 9-acre desert garden (plants native to or adapted to the Coachella Valley's climate, designed by James Burnett) is the most beautiful public garden in the Coachella Valley and provides the clearest illustration of what desert landscaping can achieve when applied with genuine ambition.
What Stands Out
- Every US president Nixon through Obama visited: the most politically storied private property in California, now public
- A. Quincy Jones 1966 design: a premier example of California residential modernism from the mid-century's most mature decade
- Annenberg Collection works (Renoir, van Gogh, Picasso): the most significant art collection open to the public in the Coachella Valley
- 9-acre desert garden (James Burnett): the most beautiful public garden in the Coachella Valley — native desert planting at its most considered
- Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, and every 20th-century president among the documented guests: the guest book reads like a 20th-century American history anthology